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Scan launches new landing pages to make QR Codes actually useful for businesses

We’ve talked about Scan.me before here on TNW. They’re a Google Ventures-backed company that’s doing some very cool things to fix QR Codes. Now, the company is launching their new Scan Pages product for businesses.

These are simple pages that allow a customer to scan a QR code at a business, on a card or elsewhere and be taken to a logical landing pad. This is an important distinction, as QR codes, when scanned, normally dump the user unceremoniously onto the businesses website, which may not even be mobile friendly, much less immediately provide the desired information.

The pages provided by Scan.me, in contrast, offer a clean look, with business branding and distinct calls to action. Users can, for instance, shop immediately with the business, call them directly or get locations and hours. A restaurant could deliver their menu in one tap, even as their website remains flash-happy and hostile to mobiles.

Direct links out to sharing sites like Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, Yelp or Facebook allow users to interact with the brand immediately, rather than having to copy and paste URLs or seek out those buttons on the brand’s page.

Scan’s founder Garrett Gee has said that the company wants the entire experience, from start to finish, to feel like a conversation between the business and the user of the app. This makes sense because, as of now, the QR code experience is crap. They’ve become the butt of jokes because they’re used improperly and deliver an unfulfilling experience once they’ve been scanned.

As the focus has been on having people scan codes at all costs, they’ve grown into a celebration of the ways that businesses simply don’t get tech. There’s nothing inherently evil about QR codes, and there is potential here. But in order to unlock that potential, companies like Scan have to break down some serious scar tissue built up by the sloppy handling of the system so far by clueless advertisers.

“With Scan Pages, I felt it important to find the perfect balance between customization and standarization, says Gee. “It is important that businesses are able to make the page their own, thus we enable them to upload their profile pic, background, and of course choose the buttons that best fit their needs and goals. Then, to incease simplicity and usability, we have set a definitie standard layout.”

If customers are treated to a standardized layout that feels like other mobile apps and pages they’ve interacted with, they’re bound to feel more comfortable taking actions on those pages. If Scan has any hopes of making QR codes really useful, it will need to complete that conversational circle, from the user to the page and back again via one of the actionable options. How successful these pages are at converting ‘scanners’ to ‘actors’ is the key.

You can check out the code builder at the Scan.me site and you can grab the app from the app stores here.